The talented 16-year-old lost the American Idol crown on Wednesday night's season 11 finale, where Phillip Phillips was crowned the winner.

"I'm kind of relieved that this whole thing is over, but I'm also going to miss everybody here," Sanchez told reporters backstage. "I really think that Phillip deserves to win and I'm so happy for him."

Sanchez said she had a hunch that Phillips, 21, "was going to win the whole thing" when the top 3 was announced (Joshua Ledet was eliminated last week). "Phillip has everything about him," she explained. "He has his funny side and his humble side and he's just an amazing, original artist. I think we all are talented and I think we all are going to have really successful careers."

She added of her pal, who's scheduled to undergo kidney surgery imminently: "He has worked harder than all of us. We've all been working hard, but he's been having to deal with his health issues, with his kidneys, and I think he's been through a lot more than us mentally and physically."

Long considered a front-runner, Sanchez slipped a bit on Tuesday's performance episode, when her performance of original single "Change Nothing" left judges Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler cold.